Condos in paradise for heavenly good prices

Friends & Real Estate

Real Estate is never narrowly defined and narrowly specific. Too many things tie in, so when you say Real Estate, it is like saying “life”. It is everything around us…

So it is general. One would think that friends are your best clients, and often times it is true. But like borrowing money from friends might be the end of friendship, having friends as clients in Real Estate may hurt friendship, too.

In the years I have been in Real Estate, I had both the best experiences, and not so great experiences.

Our friends are “sitting on some cash” for many years. They had some cash, then they sold their condo in Russia, and added to the under mattress treasure…

And they never stop thinking about having a rental property and regularly ask to look for some good deals for them. However, when we find what they are asking for, the first conversation makes me feel as if they are trying to find the reason not to buy.

It is like when you find the golden egg, they still find imprefections…

Then they go and look, and say they need to think about it, and then, a few days later, they would say “no”. I told my wife several times that we should stop doing it. We take it to heart, but they don’t so there is no reason we get emotionally involved. It is not even a one way-way street, it is a dead-end…

And she agrees. And then I hear her talking to them again, looking for that mythical investment.

– I could not say no, they asked…

Yesterday I heard her calling them. The unit came on the market in the morning. It fit everything they were looking for. It was in their subdivision, 2 minutes walk from them. It was even on the lake and very private, in very good condition…

And the price at $79,900 for this townhome was $20K less than next unit, which was not on the water, and was not in great shape.

I knew that chances of them buying anything were dismal, but why lose a sale? I suggested we go there and look and then contact a few of people we know and offer this to them.

We went there, and our friends came. There was a line of agents with their customers waiting patiently for their turn to see the unit. We were #5, and who knows how many people have already seen the townhome…

Everything is fine. They like it. We walk outside and in the door run into the Listing agent, who brought people to see the unit.

– What would be the best price to offer?

And then follows the story how they were buying their unit 9 years ago…

There is no reason even to discuss it unless they are willing to move immediately. And they become apprehensive. No, they would not allow to be pushed… And I listen to the whole lecture of them being very diligent and not allowing anyone to press them… They will be thinking.

And you feel like you are a sleazy salesman pushing an innocent person to jump from Everest without saying the last word…

Telling him that the offer might be coming from any of the people who looked at the unit is useless. Seeing the line of agent with their clients is useless…

We leave. Made a few calls, but it is Saturday and nobody picked the phone. We come back, go to the beach, come back in an hour and see that the unit is already Pending… One day.

Left the message for our friends that they do not need to keep thinking hard anymore… What can you do when people think that what they do is right, and do not believe that the world is changing, the market is changing?

Told my wife that if I ever hear her talking to them about real estate again, I would kill her…